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Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 14:17

We have here but five loaves and two fishes - When we are deeply conscious of our own necessities, we shall be led to depend on Jesus with a firmer faith. God often permits his servants to be brought low, that they may have repeated opportunities of proving the kindness and mercy of their gracious Lord and Master. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 14:18

Bring them hither to me - No creature of God should be considered as good or safe without the blessing of God in it. If thou have but even a handful of meal and a few herbs, bring them to Christ by prayer and faith, and he will make them a sufficiency for thy body, and a sacrament to thy soul. Let the minister of the Gospel attend also to this - let him bring all his gifts and graces to his Maker - let him ever know that his word can be of no use, unless the blessing of Christ be in it. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 14:19

And took the five loaves, etc. - This was the act of the father of a family among the Jews - his business it was to take the bread into his hands, and render thanks to God, before any of the family was permitted to taste of it. Looking up to heaven - To teach us to acknowledge God as the Supreme Good, and fountain of all excellence. He blessed - The word God should, I think, be rather inserted here than the word them, because it does not appear that it was the loaves which Christ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 14:20

They did all eat, and were filled - Little or much is the same in the hands of Jesus Christ. Here was an incontestable miracle - five thousand men, besides women and children, fed with five cakes and two fishes! Here must have been a manifest creation of substance - the parts of the bread were not dilated to make them appear large, nor was there any delusion in the eating - for they all ate, and were all filled. Here then is one miracle of our Lord attested by at least five thousand persons!... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 14:22

Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship - Either they were afraid to return into the jurisdiction of Herod, or they were unwilling to embark without their Lord and Protector, and would not enter their boat till Christ had commanded them to embark. From this verse it appears that Christ gave some advices to the multitudes after the departure of his disciples, which he did not wish them to hear. Unto the other side - Towards Capernaum, Matthew 14:34 . John 6:16 , John... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 14:13

Verse 13 Matthew 14:13.When Jesus heard it. John, who relates the same narrative, does not mention the reason why Jesus crossed over to the opposite bank, (6: 5.) Mark and Luke differ somewhat from Matthew; for they describe the occasion of the journey to have been to give some repose to his disciples, after that they had returned from their embassy. But there is no contradiction here; for it is possible that he intended to withdraw his disciples into a desert place, in order that he might be... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 14:14

Verse 14 14.He was moved with compassion towards them. The other two Evangelists, and particularly Mark, state more clearly the reason why this compassion ( συμπάθεια) was awakened in the mind of Christ. It was because he saw famishing souls, whom the warmth of zeal had carried away from their homes and led into a desert place This scarcity of teaching indicated a wretched state of disorder; and accordingly Mark says that Jesus was moved with compassion towards them, because they were as sheep... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 14:15

Verse 15 15.When the evening was drawing on. The disciples had now lost their object, and they see that Christ is again absorbed in teaching, while the multitudes are so eager to receive instruction that they do not think of retiring. Theytherefore advise that for the sake of attending to their bodily wants, Christ should send them away into the neighboring villages. He had purposely delayed till now the miracle which he intended to perform; first, that his disciples might consider it more... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 14:16

Verse 16 16.Give you to them something to eat. As a fuller exposition of this miracle will be found at the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, instead of troubling my readers with a repetition of what I have said, I would rather send them to that exposition; but rather than pass over this passage entirely, I shall offer a brief recapitulation. Hitherto Christ had bestowed his whole attention on feeding souls, but now he includes within his duties as a shepherd the care even of their bodies. And in... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 14:19

Verse 19 19.He blessed. In this passage, as in many others, blessing denotes thanksgiving. Now Christ has taught us, by his example, that we cannot partake of our food with holiness and purity, unless we express our gratitude to God, from whose hand it comes to us. Accordingly, Paul tells us, that every kind of food which God bestows upon us is sanctifed by the word of God and prayer, (1 Timothy 4:5;) by which he means, that brutal men, who do not regard by faith the blessing of God, and do not... read more

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